[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 21, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13060-13061]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03470]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Proposed Agency Information Collection Revision

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. 
Department of Energy.

[[Page 13061]]


ACTION: Notice and request for OMB review and comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy (EERE) has submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for clearance, a proposal for a three-year extension, with 
changes, of a collection of information under the provisions of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The proposed collection will provide 
DOE with the information necessary to meet its statutory and regulatory 
obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 
and the DOE NEPA implementing regulations, which requires EERE to 
perform environmental impact analyses prior to making a decision to 
provide Federal funding for research, development and demonstration 
projects funded by DOE.

DATES: Comments regarding this proposed information collection must be 
received on or before March 22, 2024. If you anticipate that you will 
be submitting comments but find it difficult to do so within the period 
of time allowed by this notice, please advise the DOE Desk Officer at 
OMB of your intention to make a submission as soon as possible. The 
Desk Officer may be telephoned at (202) 395-4718.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
    And to: Andrew M. Montano at U.S. Department of Energy, 15013 
Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, or by email at: 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#56136a37763e2433306b" mailto:EREEQComments@ee.doe.gov"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b3f6e1f6f6e2f0dcdeded6ddc7c0f3d6d69dd7dcd69dd4dcc5">[email protected]</span></a>">E<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#410413040410022e2c2c242f35320124246f252e246f262e37"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1b5e495e5e4a587476767e756f685b7e7e357f747e357c746d">[email protected]</span></a></a>.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the EERE Environmental Questionnaire should be directed to 
Andrew M. Montano at: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d1948394948092bebcbcb4bfa5a291b4b4ffb5beb4ffb6bea7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9cd9ced9d9cddff3f1f1f9f2e8efdcf9f9b2f8f3f9b2fbf3ea">[email protected]</span></a>. The EERE Environmental 
Questionnaire also is available for reviewing in the Golden Field 
Office Public Reading Room at: www.energy.gov/node/2299401. If you have 
difficulty accessing this document, please contact Casey Strickland at 
(720) 356-1575.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection request 
contains: (1) OMB No.: 1910-5175; (2) Information Collection Request 
Title: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) 
Environmental Questionnaire; (3) Type of Request: Revision ; (4) 
Purpose: The DOE's EERE provides Federal funding through Federal 
assistance programs to businesses, industries, universities, and other 
groups for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and 
development and demonstration projects. The National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) requires that an 
environmental analysis be completed for all major Federal actions 
significantly affecting the environment including projects entirely or 
partly financed by Federal agencies. To effectively perform 
environmental analyses for these projects, the DOE's EERE needs to 
collect project-specific information from Federal financial assistance 
awardees. DOE's EERE has developed its Environmental Questionnaire to 
obtain the required information and ensure that its decision-making 
processes are consistent with NEPA as it relates to renewable energy 
and energy efficiency research and development and demonstration 
projects. Minor changes have been made to the Environmental 
Questionnaire that help to clarify certain questions as related to the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), 
but do not change the meaning of the questions being asked. These 
revisions include additional fields in Section 1 to collect award, 
funding, and contact information and additional fields in Section 3 of 
the Environmental Questionnaire to collect information about project 
location(s). The average hours per response have increased from one 
hour to one- and one-half hours and the revisions made should not add 
any additional time needed to complete the Environmental Questionnaire; 
(5) Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: 300; (6) Average Hours 
per Response: 1.5; and (7) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: 
443; (8) Annual Estimated Respondent Costs: $29,238. There is no cost 
associated with reporting and recordkeeping.
    Statutory Authority: National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
    Signing Authority: This document of the Department of Energy was 
signed on February 14, 2024, by Matthew Blevins, Director, Environment, 
Safety and Health Office, Golden Field Office, Office of Energy 
Efficiency and Renewable Energy, pursuant to delegated authority from 
the Secretary of Energy. That document with the original signature and 
date is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in 
compliance with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the 
undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to 
sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as 
an official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative 
process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon 
publication in the Federal Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on February 15, 2024.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2024-03470 Filed 2-20-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P


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